At only 14-years-old, Wasilat Tasi’u is a child bride and now she’s a convicted murderer. Tasi’u killed her thirty-five year husband Umar Sani as a desperate attempt to be set free of the subordination of their arranged marriage and now she’s possibly facing the death penalty.

Wasilat fatherIsyaku Tasi’u has pleaded to the Nigerian court of Kano State Ministry of Justice to withdraw its sentence for young Wasilat. Her husband died in April, two weeks after their wedding after haven eaten a meal that Wasilat prepared for him containing rat poison. Since then, other witnesses aware of Tasi’u’s deathly plate, have claimed she’s killed three others because of arranged marriages as well. She’s is currently in state juvenile custody and there will be a hearing on December 22 by the Justice Mohammed Yahaya.

Arranged marriages involving child brides are not uncommon in parts of Africa (and certainly Asia). The legality of these unions are regularly challenged and are prime examples of women’s rights being restrained.

The Nigerian activist Zubeida Nagee led a protest letter to the state deputy governor standing beside Tasi’u, and an excerpt from the letter reads: “She was married to a man that she didn’t love. She protested but her parents forced her to marry him.”